Just hold me
by mirdaishan
Summary: When Greg returns to CSI after his vacation, he's surprised to see the sad looks on the faces of his co-workers. Their sad looks have nothing to do with him, however: it's Morgan's first day back on the job as well as her best friend from college has just died in a car accident...


**I wrote this one a while ago, but I never published it... It's not the happiest story I've ever written, but I hope the end will still put a little smile on your face.  
Please let me know what you think in a review!**

_**Just hold me**_

"Guess who's back!"

With a big smile Greg walked into the breakroom for the first time after his three weeks of vacation. He had spent them without his phone, just enjoying the sun, the beach and the ocean. Now he was ready to get back to work again, but mostly to see his colleagues, especially Morgan of course. He didn't see her in the breakroom, however, and to his surprise, his other colleagues looked everything but happy.

"What's going on?" he asked, his smile disappearing quickly from his face. Sara looked up at him, a sad look in her eyes. "You don't know?"

Greg shook his head, sitting down next to her. "What am I supposed to know?"

"Did you talk to Morgan at all the past few weeks?" Nick asked him.

"No, I didn't bring my phone, I never checked my email," Greg told him, getting worried now. "Did something happen to Morgan? Is she alright?"

"She didn't get hurt herself," Finn quickly reassured him. Her answer didn't satisfy him. He looked at Sara, who nodded. "I'll tell you. It's Morgan's first day back today as well. The day after you left, something happened…"

_Smiling, Morgan looked at the piece of evidence Greg had collected at the scene yesterday. She had thought it wouldn't help them at all with their investigation – it seemed so useless – but now it turned out to be a key piece of evidence._

"_I'll just get this to Hodges and if it's a match, we've got him!" she smiled at Sara, who had been assigned to help her now that Greg had left on his vacation._

"_Okay, I'll…"_

"_Morgan?" Russell interrupted Sara. He stepped into the room, a serious look on his face. "I need to talk to you."_

_The look on his face worried her. She took a step towards him. "Is something wrong?"_

_Russell nodded. "Come with me to my office, I'll tell you there. Sara, why don't you come along as well… for support…"_

_Morgan froze. What was going on? With a white face she followed Russell to his office, where he gently pushed her down on a chair._

"_Your mother just called me," he started. Before he could continue, Morgan sat up. "Did something happen to her?"_

_Russell shook his head. "No, she's fine. She got a call from Laura Jennifer's mother."_

_Morgan frowned. Why would Laura's mother call her mother? Laura was her best friend from college – they had shared a room since day one and after college, they had kept in touch. At first they had called or emailed each other every day, then it had become once a week, once a month and now they wrote each other every two months. Morgan always told Laura everything – they had never kept a secret for each other._

"_Morgan, Laura was involved in a car accident," Russell continued. "I'm afraid… she didn't make it…"_

"_What?" Morgan stared at her supervisor. Laura was… dead? Tears slowly started rolling down her face. No, this couldn't be true! She had just received an email from Laura a few days ago, how could she be… gone?_

"_You need to go to LA, Morgan," Russell softly said._

"_But…"_

"_Morgan?"_

_Morgan looked up and saw her father standing in the doorway. She rushed up to him, pushing her face against his shoulder as she broke down. He put his arms around her for a moment, but then grabbed her arms and gently pushed her back. "I booked you a flight, your mother will meet you in LA. I'll contact LAPD while you're in the air in case you'd like to see the investigation file."_

"_But I…" She couldn't get the words out of her mouth, all she could do was cry. Sara placed her hand on her shoulder. "Go, Morgan, I'll tell the rest. Don't worry about our case, okay?"_

_That was the last thing on her mind! She only wanted one thing… but no one seemed to understand that._

Greg didn't know what to say. Poor Morgan! Suddenly losing your best friend like that… All he wanted to do, was find her and hold her, no matter what people would think about it.

"I see her," Finn said, who was sitting on the other side of the table. Everyone around Greg quickly sat up straighter. Greg just remained where he was, only bringing his eyes towards the door. Morgan walked into the breakroom, her eyes still red and her hair straight down to cover her face if necessary.

"Morgan, we're…" Nick started, but Morgan cut him off: "Leave me alone."

She grabbed a cup of coffee, keeping her back towards the rest. Finn got up. "Morgan, if there's…"

"Leave me alone!"

Angry, Morgan turned around. A little shocked, Finn took a step back. Morgan grabbed her coffee and left the breakroom. Nick immediately got up to follow her. Slower, Greg got up as well, following his colleague and Morgan of course. Morgan had gone back to her office, Nick followed her inside. "Look, Morgan, we know…"

"Leave me alone!"

"I know…"

"Am I speaking Chinese or are you deaf? I said: leave me alone!"

Greg had never heard Morgan this angry. Nick quietly left her office. Greg hesitated for a second, but then still walked in. After all: it was his office as well.

"Greg…" She looked up at him, sounding everything but angry now. Before he could say something, Russell walked in. Morgan turned her head away from him. "Please leave me alone."

Russell nodded for a moment, something Morgan of course didn't see. "Alright, as you wish. Greg, I just got a call out. Simple case, I think, you can probably handle it alone, but maybe Morgan can help you."

He gave Greg the information before leaving. Greg looked at Morgan. "Wanna come or do you wanna stay here?"

"I'll stay. I'll help you when you get back."

"Okay." He hesitated. He really wanted to hug her, but after her angry tone from before he had lost the courage. He gave her a final look before heading out to his crime scene.

When he came back, he found Morgan in the locker room, listening to some music on her iPod. Before he got a chance to say something to her, Sara walked in.

"Look, Morgan, if there's…" she started. Morgan already jumped up. "Just leave me alone!"

She stormed out of the locker room, leaving her iPod behind on the bench. Sara went after her, paying no attention to Greg. He carefully picked up Morgan's iPod, hearing the music was still playing. He started to bring his hand towards the pause button, but then changed his mind. He picked up the ear phones and listened to the song Morgan had been listening to moments before. Suddenly, he knew exactly what to do. He quickly put the iPod back in Morgan's locker and rushed out to find her. He found her in their office, just after Hodges had found her.

"Morgan, if…" he started.

"Get out!" Morgan snapped at him.

"But I…"

"Leave her alone, Hodges," Greg spoke up. Hodges turned around to look at him, his mouth already open to protest. When he saw Greg's look, he closed his mouth again, though, and left the office. Greg walked up to Morgan and without saying a word, he wrapped his arms around her and held her. She immediately broke down, crying hysterically with her face against his chest. He held her tightly and gently rubbed her back until she calmed down a little.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go outside."

He kept one arm around her, holding her close, while they walked outside. Morgan was still sobbing a little, but it wasn't the upset crying from inside anymore. She sat down on a bench next to him, her head on his shoulder. He continued to rub her back without saying a word. When she was ready to talk, she'd start, he knew. And he was right: after a while she looked up at him. "How did you know?"

"I heard the song you had been listening to," he explained his hug from inside. She rested her head on his shoulder again. "Maria Mena, Why can't you just hold me? I always loved that song, but it never meant anything to me until now. Ever since Russell told me about Laura, I just wanted someone to hold me, hug me… comfort me… No one did! Not even my Dad or my Mum… But now you did…"

She looked at him again, this time with tears in her eyes. "It just seems so unreal! I'll never receive another email from her, we'll never talk on the phone again, we'll never meet up again to celebrate our birthdays… She is the one person in the entire world that I told everything! We didn't have any secrets, we knew everything about each other! Who am I supposed to talk to now?"

The way she looked at him told him he would never be the right person for that job, something he understood. They might be close friends, but Laura was a girl and sometimes girls just needed girls to talk to.

"I just received an email from her a few days before the accident… I didn't even get a chance to reply to it…" Morgan got out her cellphone and showed him the email she had received from Laura. He quickly read it, feeling a little uncomfortable reading such a private email. Especially when he got to the last paragraph… He gave Morgan back her cellphone.

"Sounds like you were really close," he softly said. She nodded. "Yes, we were, ever since we first met. We just had this instant connection… We shared a room for four years in college – on the first day, we even arrived at our room at the same time. We started talking that first day… and never stopped… until now…"

Tears reappeared in her eyes. Greg immediately pulled her back into his arms. He would hold her forever if she wanted to, because he would always be there for her.

_Three months later…_

Morgan kneeled down, placing the flowers on Laura's grave.

"Hey, Laura, I'm back," she softly said. "And I brought someone with me…"

Greg kneeled down next to her, his arm around her. Morgan smiled at Laura's grave. "I never sent you a reply to last email, so I'm just giving you the answer in person. Guess you still got what you wanted… and me too, of course…"

Greg smiled as he heard those words. He still remembered the email he had read three months ago, the last email Laura had sent Morgan. That last paragraph was something he'd never be able to forget.

_Oh, and good news, Morgan: remember Brian, the guy I've had a crush on forever? Well, I finally asked him out and he said 'yes'! So, all __**you**__ need to do now, is finally tell Greg how crazy you are about him and then we can double-date! Yes, I can see you shaking your head behind your computer right now, but it's time, Morgan! I think I have about seven __**thousand**__ emails from you going on about how great he is and how much in love you are with him… and how scared you are of telling him how you feel. Two words for you: tell him!_

At first, he hadn't said anything about it. He had continue to hold her, listened to her tell him more about Laura and finally thanking him for being there for her.

"_I'll always be there for you, Morgan," he had told her. "No matter when or where you are, you can always count on me. I know now is not the right time to bring it up, but I love you, Morgan. I'll always be there to hold you!"_

_As answer she hugged him, holding him tight. The smile she gave him came with a warm, loving look in her eyes. He smiled back at her, holding out his hand. "Are you ready to get back inside?"_

_She nodded reassuringly. "Yeah. With you I'm ready to go anywhere!"_

After shift that night he had taken her home and stayed with her all day, holding her in his arms while she slept for six hours straight, for the first time since Russell had told her about the accident. When she woke up, she had asked him if he wanted to go back to LA with her to visit Laura's grave… when she was ready.

And that time was now. Greg watched Morgan as she talked to the grave. When she finally got up, he could see she had finally accepted that her best friend was gone.

"There's one more thing I want to do," she said to him. She took him back to her mother's house and into the backyard.

"When Laura visited me for the first time after we had finished college, we took a photo here," she told him, standing in front of a bush with colorful flowers. Greg recognized the bush from the photo Morgan had shown him before they had left for LA.

"I wanna take a photo of us here together," she explained to him. "A happy photo to celebrate our first trip to LA together, even if the circumstances are… well, you understand. Just… a happy photo, okay?"

"Okay!" He put his arm around her, held his face close to hers and smiled directly at the camera. Morgan printed the photo once they were back in Vegas and put it into a beautiful frame. The frame she put on her desk in her office at CSI, next to the photo of her and Laura. Her best friend and her boyfriend… Her best friend was gone, but she had gotten a boyfriend in return. And it was all thanks to Laura. Morgan smiled at the photo. She'd never forget her best friend, but she would also never forget the way Greg had been there for her when no one else seemed to understand what she needed: someone to just hold her.


End file.
